


Who's Afraid?

by WolfRune20855



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Darling is a matchmaker, F/M, Romance, i love these two, post thronecoming, pre-dragon games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7506751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfRune20855/pseuds/WolfRune20855
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cerise Hood is a quiet girl with too many secrets who runs through the woods during her free period. Daring Charming is a prince with a bright future who has girls fawning over him around every corner. They couldn't be any more different, yet something keeps bringing them together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Detention

Cerise Hood was running late. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, Cerise was a generally good student who did well in almost all of her classes, but it was the first day of second semester and the class that she was late to was General Villainy. The teacher of General Villainy, Professor Badwolf, would have her head-literally.

Professor Badwolf was a strict and unusually scary teacher, and that was saying something. In a school with evil stepsisters as librarians and crazy witches as counsellors, it could easily be said that the big bad wolf was the most terrifying staff member. Any and every student avoided him, except Cerise that was.

No one ever saw Cerise Hood visit Professor Badwolf's office, after all, why would she? She shouldn't've even been taking General Villainy, but Raven had asked her too. Raven was the only one who knew Cerise's secret, and she liked to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, however, running in the forest during your break period had its consequences, such as walking in to class two minutes late.

Cerise entered the room and quietly closed the door behind her, hoping to go unnoticed by the rest of the class. It didn't work. "So nice of you to join us, Cerise," Professor Badwolf roared, quite literally. He took out a detention slip and signed Cerise's name on it. "Tardiness will not be accepted in my class," he said and handed the slip to Cerise.

"Yes, sir," Cerise mumbled meekly, looking down out the slip in front of her. Her first day back after break and she had already received a detention from her father.

Not that this was anything new. Professor Badwolf handed out detentions on a regular basis to students who were tardy, or said something out of line, or spoke a little too loudly. Cerise stuck the detention in the bag and glanced around for Raven. She was sitting in the third row right next to Ginger Breadhouse. There wasn't a seat available anywhere near her. Raven shot her an apologetic look.

"Miss Hood," Professor Badwolf's voice cut through her thoughts. "Do you want another detention?"

"No sir," Cerise muttered and took one of the two empty seats that sat in the back of the classroom, underneath the leaky pipe that always dripped on the heads of the two unfortunate souls underneath it, or in this case just Cerise.

Cerise pulled her hood further over her face and took out her notes. She quickly began to copy the notes on the board, along with the rest of the class.

* * *

 

Prince Daring Charming, the future king of the land, hero of legend, and future kisser of Snow White, was having a very bad day.

It had all started when he had been woken up at an unseemly hour by a call from Baba Yaga's office, a sign which was never good. There, she had told him that he had to many Heroic credits and he needed to take something that would show that he had a broader pallet of interests. It was bad enough that she was taking him from one of his favorite classes, it was even worse that the class she had suggested(more like ordered) that he take was General Villainy.

He had told Baba Yaga that he was a Charming, a good guy, and didn't need to take General Villainy. She had laughed in his face and assigned him to Professor Badwolf's class anyways. Daring had stormed to Headmaster Grimm's office to tell him the terrible news, only to find that he was the one who had suggested it. One needed to know how one's enemies work, he had explained, and Daring had found his logic to be sound.

Alas, arguing with the headmaster had taken longer than Daring had expected, which was why he arrived to General Villainy three minutes late.

Daring put on his signature Daring Charming smile and strolled in to class, only to stop short in his tracks at the sound of Professor Badwolf's voice. "Is there something I can help you with, Charming?" the professor snarled.

"Ummm," the prince's cool demeanor crumpled just for a second, "I have been moved to this class."

There was a general gasp from the class, but Badwolf just rolled his eyes. He reached for something on his desk and scribbled something across it. "You're late. Do not keep this habit up or you will find your Saturday nights full." Professor Badwolf tore off a slip of paper and handed it to Daring.

Daring looked down at the paper, staring at it in astonishment. It was a detention. Never before in his life had Daring Charming received a detention. "Sir I think that you-"

"Take a seat!" Badwolf growled.

Daring swallowed and took the only available seat, located in the back of the classroom next to a girl in a red hood. Daring leaned back in his chair and sighed. He may have been the only Royal in the room, but at least he wasn't the only hero. The girl sitting next to him was the hero of her story.

He didn't really know Cerise Hood. Too be honest, he didn't really care to. The only thing that he really knew about her was that she had saved their collective backsides during the thronecoming bookball game. Maybe she would be helpful in this class.

Daring smiled and stared up at the old rusted pipes above him. Maybe he could pass this class without another detention. He flinched, his smile fading, when a drop of water landed in his eye. He could hear the girl next to him snicker quietly in to her hand.

* * *

 

"You can't come to what?" Briar Beauty's shouting rivaled Professor Badwolf's. Really, Daring was impressed.

"I can't come to the party Saturday," Daring said, "I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?" Briar sputtered, "It's the first party of the year. I'm going to be there. Apple's going to be there. Ashlyn's going to be there. Hex, even Raven Queen is going to be there along with the rest of the Rebels. So tell me what you're doing Saturday that's so important?"

Daring winced. "Ihavetogotodetention," he muttered.

"Sorry, didn't hear that. What'd you say?"

"I said, I have to go to detention," Daring said a little louder.

Briar stopped walking. "Hold up, did you just say that you have to go to detention?" Daring nodded. Briar laughed. "Who on earth gave you a detention? Who would do that? You're, like, everyone's favorite student. Aside from Apple, that is."

"Professor Badwolf," Daring said.

"You don't even have him."

"I do now. Baba Yaga switched me to his class this morning," Daring explained.

Briar raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I have too many Heroics credits and need to diversify my interests. Her words, not mine."

"Seriously? Does she realize that you're a prince and not a witch, or villain, or whatever?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know what?" Apple asked coming up beside them, her blonde curls bouncing. Daring watched her. Just like him, she was the exact image of perfection. A match set, the two of them were.

"He's been switched from Heroics to General Villainy," Briar said.

"What!?!" Apple seemed shocked, she probably was. Apple liked things to stay the same, which was funny considering that her roommate was Raven Queen. "Why?"

Daring shrugged. "Don't look at me," he said, and mentally cursed at Baba Yaga for making him take a class that he wasn't at all the least bit interested in. He would've taken Damsel-in-Destressing over General Villiany. At least there were cute damsels in that class. And they were always in need of saving, well, except Darling, who was taking the course because their parents had forced her to.

"What are you going to do?" Apple asked.

"All that I can do," Daring said, looking at his practically girlfriend, "attend the class."

"Are you sure? Because I can go talk to Headmaster Grimm."

"I already tried that," Daring said, "Apparently it was his idea in the first place."

"That's horrible. Why would he do that?"

"That's not even the worst part," Briar butted it, "He can't go to the party this weekend."

"Why?"

"Because he got a detention," Briar said, and Daring face palmed. At this rate, it wouldn't be long until the whole school knew.

* * *

 

"Sorry about earlier today," Raven apologized to Cerise.

Cerise glanced up from the Science and Sorcery book that they had been studying at her friend. Raven looked sincerely apologetic.

"It's alright," Cerise said, "He just has to be harsh on me, otherwise..."

"Yeah," Raven said, "I'm just sorry that you have to sit in that seat. I should have saved you one."

"It's fine," Cerise said, "Besides Daring Charming's getting the worst of it."

"Getting the worst of what?" Maddie asked as she entered Cerise's room without so much as a knock. Raven just smiled at her friend as Cerise shook her head. She knew that things were done a little differently in Wonderland, so Maddie wasn't accustomed to everything.

"You know that leaky pipe in General Villiany?"

"Yeah."

"Daring Charming's sitting right under it."

Maddie started laughing then stopped abruptly. "Wait, what is Daring Charming doing in General Villainy?"

Raven shrugged as Cerise said, "I don't know."

"I don't think that he would have signed up for it," Maddie said, "I mean, it's a class for villains," she sent a quick glance to Raven and Cerise, "and other people, who are not heroes."

"Hey," Raven protested, "I'm a hero."

Maddie nodded. "Which is exactly why you're in General Villainy."

"I'm in General Villainy because Headmaster Grimm's making me take the class," Raven said, "And besides-"

Cerise blocked out the two girls' voices and flipped through her Science and Sorcery book. Professor Rumplestiltskin would probably have a pop quiz tomorrow, he was fond of pop quizzes.

* * *

 

Cerise sat down in the empty General Villainy classroom. Her father wasn't back from dinner yet and none of the other students wanted to arrive early to detention. Cerise was always early because then she got some time to talk normally with her dad.

She leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. She slightly wished that she didn't have the detention. She was all for spending time with her dad, but there would be other kids in the classroom, plus all of her friends were going to Briar Beauty's party.

Not that Cerise really enjoyed parties. No. Her friends rarely ever got her to dance at all, but it was fun to talk and hang out with them. It was the only reason that she'd gone to thronecoming or the True Hearts dance. She rarely danced with any guys-she was too shy-but her girl friends always had fun at these things.

What Cerise was really missing was the moon. Saturday night was usually when she went running in the moonlight. Running faster than a horse was not something that she could do without weird looks in the day time.

Cerise's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone walking in the room. She turned around, half expecting to see her father trying to sneak up on her, only to find herself a few feet away from Daring Charming. He sat a couple seats away from her and Cerise returned to staring at the ceiling.

"Hey," Cerise heard Daring say. She hadn't heard anyone else enter the room, so she looked around. It was only the two of them.

"Hi," came Cerise's timid response.

"Can we leave if he doesn't show up?" Daring asked.

Cerise shook her head. "You wouldn't want to do that. Professor Badwolf expects everyone to serve their detentions with or without him. One time these kids tried to cut out early-" Cerise drew a finger against her throat.

"Oh," Daring looked shocked, "So we just sit here even if he doesn't show up?"

"Pretty much," Cerise said, "Though you can leave if you want, but it's your funeral."

"Oh," Daring said again, and Cerise found it kind of funny, "See, my friend Briar has this party-"

"I know."

"You do?"

Cerise looked at the eldest Charming. "Do you think that I live under a rock?"

"No," Daring said, "It's just that you really don't seem like the kind of girl that goes to parties."

"I'm not," Cerise said simply.

"Then why'd you act like I was offending you?"

Cerise shrugged. "You're fun to mess with."

"I'm fun to mess with?" Daring sputtered.

Cerise just shrugged again, a small smile creeping on to her lips.

* * *

 

For someone who was missing the event of the week, Daring Charming was surprisingly okay.

He stared at the girl sitting a few seats away from him. Who would have known that quiet, timid Cerise Hood liked to mess with people? She hadn't struck Daring as the kind of girl that did that kind of thing. Then again, she hadn't struck him as much of anything. Though a lot of his friends hung out with her friends, they rarely ever talked. He had just ignored her.

"So, why aren't you at Briar's party?" Cerise asked.

"Same reason as you," Daring answered.

"First of all, I wouldn't be at Briar's party even if I didn't have this detention-"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," Cerise replied sternly.

"So what would you be doing instead?"

"I'd probably be just wandering around in the woods," she answered.

"The woods are a dangerous place for a damsel," Daring said. Cerise shot him a venomous glare. "But you're not what I'd call a damsel." Cerise smiled as he said that. It wasn't a big smile, but it was a genuine one.

Daring stared at Cerise for another moment. She was strange. An incredibly odd individual. There was absolutely no reason for Daring to get to know her, yet he found himself wanting to. She pulled nervously on the hood of her cape and Daring realized that he had been staring for to long.

"What's with the cape?" Daring asked.

Cerise looked down at the cape that she was wearing. "You've read the story, right?"

"Yeah," Daring said, "Hopeless little girl gets swallowed by a big bad wolf and the woodcutter saves them." He was having a really hard time seeing Cerise as a hopeless little girl.

"Huntsman," Cerise corrected.

"What?"

"It's a huntsman that saves little red."

"So, Hunter will be the one saving you?" Daring was having a hard time envisioning Hunter saving Cerise. If anything, it would be the other way around.

"I guess," Cerise said, "I've never really put much thought in to it. I mean, one adventure and then I'm done. No castle or true love's kiss for me."

Usually, Daring would've bragged about his story now that Cerise had shared hers, but something stopped him. He shrugged. "Castles are overrated anyways."

"You're only saying that because you've never lived in a cottage. It's not what you would call roomy at my house."

"Well, my castle is sometimes too roomy."

"Aren't there, like, seven of you guys?" Cerise asked.

"Ten, actually," Daring said, "If you count the girls, which you probably would."

Cerise's head turned a minute before Daring's at the sound of footsteps entering the room. Professor Badwolf entered followed by the three billy goats gruff. He didn't apologize for being late, instead he just said, "These three were causing a commotion in the hall," and sat down behind his desk.

Daring stole one more look at Cerise before turning his eyes to the front of the room. He caught Professor Badwolf giving him the stink eye.

* * *

 

"Hey, Cerise," Cerise turned around to see Daring running to catch up with her.

"Hey," she said as he caught up to her and they started walking in sync.

"Briar's party is still going on. Are you coming?"

Cerise shook her head. "I'm going to the forest, remember?"

"Right," Daring nodded. He pause for a moment then said, "Just stay safe."

"You too," Cerise said as she watched Daring Charming walk in the direction of the party. She watched his broad shoulders and back, studying him. He moved with a strange agility and grace. She'd call it a charming thing, but his brother blundered about like an idiot, especially around Raven. Just before he vanished entirely, he turned around and waved at her. Cerise waved back. As his blond head disappeared from her sight, Cerise broke in to a sprint in the direction of the forest.


	2. Family History

Daring Charming was actually early to General Villainy on Monday morning. It surprised him that he was the first one in the class. He took his seat in the back of the class and flipped through his Advanced Wooing textbook. He didn't need to take the class, but he was all the same. It was an easy credit.

He had just gotten to the part about wooing non-royal damsels, when Cerise Hood walked in the class. He was surprised to see her in the class so early. She walked up to where Professor Badwolf was sitting and talked with him for a second before joining Daring in the back of the class.

"What was that about?" Daring asked Cerise as students began to trickle in.

"I just had a few questions," Cerise said.

"About?"

Cerise shot him a weird look. "This class," she said.

"Right," Daring nodded and resumed reading his Advanced Wooing book. He put it away when the bell rang and Professor Badwolf stomped to the front of the class.

"We have been studying famous villains for the past week," Professor Badwolf said, "And we will continue to study them, but we are going to take a break from that."

A small cheer erupted from the class and was quickly ended by Badwolf's glare. "Don't think that this means that you get a free week for the next week. You will be assigned a partner project. You will be reporting about all of the villains in your family tree."

A groan went up from the class. "The person sitting next to you is your partner. You will have a week to complete this project, outside of class. We will still be studying famous villains in class. You will be presenting on Friday. Any questions?"

Daring cautiously raised his arm.

"What, Charming?"

"What if you don't have any villains on your family tree?" Daring asked.

"I'm sure that your partner-," he looked at the girl sitting next to Daring, "Oh. Well, you two can do it on villains that your family members have faced, I suppose."

Daring nodded. It wasn't his fault that there weren't any villains in the Charming or Hood family trees. He picked up his pencil and started writing as Professor Badwolf started talking about evil sorcerers.

* * *

 

"I am so dead," Raven Queen groaned to Cerise and Cedar in their dorm room. Raven had been spending more and more time in her friend's rooms. Cerise thought that she was doing it to avoid Apple and her talk of destiny.

"Why?" Cerise asked.

"The project that Badwolf assigned us. I can't figure out what to talk about."

Cerise raised an eyebrow. "But you come from a really long line of evil queens."

"I know," Raven said, "I don't know how I'll fit that all of them in to one five minute presentation. I mean, you'd think that there was only so much evil that one family could do."

"What's the project on?" Cedar asked.

"We have to talk about our villainous ancestors," Cerise explained.

"But, you don't have any," Cedar pointed out.

Cerise almost said that she actually did, but she stopped herself.

"She's lucky," Raven said, "Badwolf gave her and Daring the option to do it on villains their ancestors faced."

"You'd have a problem if he'd let you do that too," Cedar pointed out.

Raven shrugged. "I suppose I would, but it doesn't mean that I wouldn't like the option." She flipped open a thick, dusty book. "I found this in the back of the library. It's the history of the Queen family. How am I supposed to memorize this in one week?"

Cerise just shook her head at her friend's dramatics.

* * *

 

A knock came at Daring Charming's dormitory room door. "Humphrey?" He asked his roommate without moving from his position on his bed.

"Yeah, yeah," Humphrey Dumpty said, "I'll get it." He opened it up and peeked his head outside. "It's for you," he said and turned around to face Daring.

Daring sat up. It was probably Apple or Briar. If it had been some fangirl, Humphrey would've turned them away. He walked to the door, slipping on his jacket, and stopped as he saw Cerise.

She was standing nervously in the doorway tugging on her hood like she could disappear in to it if she tried hard enough. She looked just like she did every other day; Plain. Simple. Cerise.

"What are you doing here?" Daring asked Cerise.

"Um," she glanced nervously at Humphrey, "I thought that we could work on the General Villainy project, but if it's not a good time-"

"No, it's a fine time," he surprised himself by saying. Usually, Daring's partner would do all of the work and he'd just sign him name on the project.

He was about to open the door to let Cerise in when he heard Humphrey shout, "No girls in the dorm room."

"Maybe we should go someplace else," Daring said and closed the door behind himself.

They walked in an awkward silence for a minute, then Cerise said, "I think we should go to the library."

Daring found himself nodding. "The library would be good," he said even though he hardly ever went in there. It was kind of like how he hardly ever did any of his own projects. People just seemed to want to do things for him. Apparently, it didn't work that way with Cerise.

They made their way to the library and sat down at ones of the tables in the back. Cerise took out her tablet and pulled up a diagram.

"What's that?" asked Daring.

"This," Cerise said with a bit of a dramatic flair, "is every Badwolf in the history of forever after."

"How did you get that?" Daring asked.

Cerise looked at him like he was stupid, which he might have been. "I asked Professor Badwolf for it."

"And he just gave it to you?"

"Yeah."

"But he's the scariest teacher in the entire school."

"So?"

"He's the villain of your story."

"And?"

"So, you should be terrified of him," Daring pointed out to Cerise.

"Right," Cerise nodded, "I am. I mean, he's pretty scary."

"But you still asked him for his family tree."

"His family tree is practically my family tree. Our stories are intertwined."

"Right," Daring nodded. He glanced at Cerise, hoping she wouldn't notice him doing so. She was a strange girl, stranger than any other girl he had ever met. The fact that she wasn't afraid of the big bad wolf was definitely another strange thing about her.

"So, what about your family?"

"What about my family?"

"What villains have the famous Charmings faced?"

Daring started to talk and then stopped. "You know, Cerise," he said, "there's a lot of them. It'd be better if I just showed you."

* * *

 

"There's an entire hall just dedicated to the Charmings at this school?"

Cerise looked around at the hall surrounding her. She didn't really know how they had gotten there. It had been a lot of turns and then Daring had made her close her eyes. Despite her great senses of smell and hearing, she really couldn't pinpoint where exactly they were. Somewhere in the west part of the school.

She took in the hall that she was in. It was more of a room, but Daring had called it a hall, so she would as well. There were swords and suits of armor all over the room. Paintings of past Charmings hung on the walls along with magnificent tapestries depicting battles.

"I didn't even know the school had this room," Cerise turned around to face Daring, who was staring at her. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks and hoped that it didn't show.

"Yeah," Daring's voice cracked, "Nobody does, except for my brother and sister. It's kind of like a secret Charming only room."

Cerise suddenly felt very awkward standing in the 'Charming only' room. She was not a Charming and shouldn't be in here. Maybe Daring showed all of his friends the 'secret Charming only room'. Cerise nodded. Yes, that was it.

"Do you come here often?" Cerise asked.

Daring nodded. "It's a surprisingly good place to think. Though, my brother hates it because the wifi it terrible," he sat down on one of the many long cushioned benches, "I'm fairly certain that my sister comes down here to fence."

Cerise's eyes widened in surprise. "Your sister fences?"

"Yes," Daring looked at Cerise, "Does that surprise you?"

Cerise shrugged and sat down on the floor, her back against the wall. "Well, she is a Charming, and you guys are all about your destinies."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why?"

"My sister wants to be a knight, and I'm fairly certain that my brother is in love with the daughter of the Evil Queen."

Cerise laughed. "You've got that one right." She looked at Daring for a moment. "What about your other siblings?" she asked.

"Most of them are like me," Daring said.

"So, perfectly handsome destiny followers?"

Daring's mouth dropped open. "I'm not a destiny follower!"

"I'm pretty sure that you are."

"Am not!"

"Your favorite class is heroics."

"So?"

"You're practically dating Apple White."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Cerise shrugged. "Nothing. Just that you like your destiny and wouldn't make a very good Rebel."

"Well, I don't think that you're a very good Rebel, Cerise," Daring said, "After all, you're following your destiny."

Suddenly, the fun atmosphere disappeared. Daring stopped and Cerise tugged on her hood, wishing that it could make her invisible and hide her from the boy that she might possibly like. "Yeah," she muttered, "Well, some of us don't have such an easy story."

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing," Cerise said, but she could feel her ears burning. What would Daring think if he saw those? She got up and sat down at a table on the other side of the room. "We should get to work," she said.

"Yeah," Daring said. He pulled a book off of a shelf and joined her at the table. When Cerise looked up at him, he was smiling.

"What?" she asked.

"You think that I'm handsome."

Cerise felt a blush climb her face. "I do not," she said and buried her face in her book.

"Uh huh," Daring nodded and opened his own book. When Cerise peeked at him from under her book, he was still smiling. She couldn't help but smile herself.


	3. Toads

Over the next week, Cerise spent more time with Daring Charming than she did with any other friend(with the exception of Cedar, who was her roommate). She found through their strange conversations and mild arguments, that Daring Charming was actually a rather interesting guy. He was brave, and funny, and a little bit strange. Cerise put down the taco that she had been eating. He was a little bit more than strange.

The General Villainy project was going really well. She knew from Raven's tales of her and Ginger's families that this was going to be a really hard topic to present. After all, she couldn't walk to the front of the room and say _'All of our ancestors defeated your ancestors, except my mother, who defied the rules and fell in love with the big bad wolf instead, and the person currently teaching this class is actually my father'_. Cerise shook her head. She couldn't say that, so she'd have to twist the story a little.

Someone sat down across from her, and Cerise looked up, surprised to find Daring on the other side of the table. She would've pinched her arm if she hadn't been so shocked. Daring hardly ever talked to her outside of class or working on the project.

"What are you doing here?" Cerise asked Daring.

Daring just smiled. "If I'm not mistaken," he said, "you have a free period next period, and I was thinking that we might be able to work on the project."

"We're finished," Cerise said, "And we're presenting today."

"Right," Daring said, "But there are a few things that I want to add before we actually present."

"Like what?"

"Things."

Cerise sighed. "Can I bring my tacos?"

Daring looked down at the four tacos sitting on her plate. She could tell that he was a little surprised that she was eating so many. She smiled. It was a good thing that he hadn't seen the other three, then.

"As long as you promise not to stain the hardwood."

Cerise nodded. "Promise."

* * *

 

Daring Charming had absolutely nothing to add to the project. It was finished, and it looked good too. It was a map of the kingdom with all of the woods and castles where villains were defeated by their ancestors. It was done and that was that. Yet Daring had still gone to talk to Cerise.

He hadn't planned it. All that Daring knew as he walked in to the cafeteria was that she had a free period and he had a free period that he wanted to spend with her. Daring shook his head. He might like her, but he couldn't date her. She was a Rebel, and Daring didn't date Rebels. He was a strictly Royal kind of guy.

He watched her as he led her down the corridor, her eyes closed. He'd have to come up with something to work on real quick if he didn't want her to find out about his little crush.

"We're almost there," he said and she nodded. She seemed to know where they were better than him most of the time.

He reached the intricately carved door and stood there studying it for a moment. Just like with the paintings in the hall, he felt like the Charmings on the door were staring at him with disapproval written on their faces.

"We're here," he told Cerise and she opened her eyes.

She glanced at Daring for a moment before asking, "Are you going to open it or are we just going to study it for the rest of the period?"

"I was going to open it," Daring said and pushed through the door that would only respond to the touch of a Charming.

Daring glanced around the hall that he had seen a million times before. Pictures of his ancestors that used to scare him covering the walls. A portrait of his parents sat at the far end. In it, they were not bickering for once with smiles on their faces looking like the perfect example of true love.

Their project was underneath a bookcase at the far end. Cerise walked over to the bookcase and pulled out the project. Her eyes rolled over the project before flicking over to Daring.

"So, what do we need to do?" she asked Daring.

Daring walked over to the project, hoping that she wouldn't notice the blush that was slowly creeping up his cheeks. He glanced down at the project and let out a sigh of relief.

"We need to write our names on it," Daring said.

Cerise nodded. She took out a pen and scribbled her name across it. She then handed it to Daring and he did the same. When he was done, he rolled the project up and stuck it in his backpack. He looked back over at Cerise, who was sitting at one of the tables devouring her tacos. He took the seat on the other side of the table.

"Are you going to Briar's party this weekend?" Daring asked Cerise.

She studied him for a moment, and Daring realized that what he had just asked her made it sound like he was asking her out on a date. He wasn't asking her on a date. Most definitely not.

"Why?" she asked.

Daring shrugged. "I was just curious?"

"Oh," Cerise said and then she nodded, "Yeah, I suppose I am."

"Good," Daring said, much to the shock of both Cerise and himself. "I mean, I look forward to actually seeing you at one of Briar's parties."

"I go to parties," Cerise scoffed.

Daring just shrugged and smiled. "I haven't seen you at any of them recently."

"That's because I haven't gone to any recently."

"Well, I look forward to seeing you at this one."

"Me too," Cerise said, biting in to her last taco. "Have you eaten?" she asked Daring as he watched her eat.

"I had pancakes for breakfast."

"But you haven't had lunch?" she asked.

Daring shook his head and Cerise fished an energy bar out of her bag and tossed it at him. Daring caught it and began to munch down on it as Cerise finished her last taco.

"That's a lot of tacos," Daring commented, finishing off the energy bar.

"I like tacos," Cerise said.

Daring nodded. "So, are you ready to present this project?"

"Yeah," Cerise said, "But we're going to have to be really careful about it. I mean, it's a pretty sensitive topic. I don't really want Raven to turn me in to a toad."

"She'd do that?"

Cerise shrugged. "If she doesn't, then someone else will."

* * *

 

"And that concludes the history of the Queens and the Breadhouses," Raven said, flicking the storyboard up to reveal a sign with a question mark on it. "Any questions?"

No one raised their hands. Raven and Ginger sat down as Professor Badwolf rose from his seat. He glanced over his listed, making a couple of marks with his pen.

"Alright," he bellowed, "Charming, Hood, you two are up."

Daring and Cerise made their way to the front of the room. Professor Badwolf looked down at his clipboard and mumbled, "This should be interesting," which was the signals for the presentation to start.

"So," Cerise looked nervously out at the crowd, "there actually aren't any villains on the Hood or Charming family trees," She made sure not to look at her father as she said it, choosing to look at Daring instead.

"But," Daring said, stepping forward, "there are quite a lot of villains tied up with the Charmings and Hoods."

Cerise nodded and flicked the pointer to a section of the forest. "For ages the Hoods have been going up against the Badwolfs. Each tale, however, takes its own course. In the earliest of versions the wolf would feed Little Red her grandmother's stewed body. Not knowing what it was, Little Red would eat it."

The looks on the faces of the class members ranged from pure horror to joy. Cerise continued, "Over time, that story lost its appeal and Little Red and the wolf became more docile. There's no more eating of grandmothers, but there are equally gruesome tales where the wolf will get his stomach stuffed with stones or he will be beheaded by woodcutters-"

"Huntsmen," Daring interrupted.

Cerise nodded. "Yes, huntsmen. Though recently the wolf has been getting away unscathed." A general " _boo_ " won't up from the class. Professor Badwolf took out his detention slips and started writing names. "The Badwolfs and the Hoods go way back." Cerise stepped back, which meant that it was Daring's turn. He stepped forward with his signature smile on his face.

"It would seem," Daring said, "that the Charmings have been around forever-and they have. Since the dawn of time, Charmings have been responsible for slaying dragons and defeating evil queens," Cerise heard Raven groan. "The Charmings are part of almost every story. They defeat the evil queen. They break evil enchantments. They bring down the evil fair-"

Daring didn't get to finish what he was saying. A puff of blue smoke filled the room, and Daring Charming was replaced by a rather handsome toad. The Daring toad looked astonished and croaked loudly. Cerise tried to hide her laughter behind her hand, but it was no use.

Still laughing, she scooped up toad Daring and turned to the class. "You know," she said," I told him not to do that. So, I guess that ends our presentation. Any questions?"


	4. Full Moon

"You're going to Briar's party?" Cedar asked skeptically.

Cerise turned around to face her roommate with a sigh. "Yes," she said, "What's wrong with that?"

Cedar simply shrugged. "I thought that you'd be going to the forest like you usually do on Saturday nights."

"Maybe I just wanted to go to a party for once," Cerise said, turning around to look in the mirror.

She hadn't dressed too fancily, but she was dressed better than usual. Her running shoes had been replaced with heels. She was wearing a black dress that she had borrowed from Raven with a bright red belt at the waist(that particular detail had been suggested by Apple, who just happened to be in the room when Cerise had gone to ask to borrow a dress). She had wanted to pull her hair back, but had decided against it, instead taking the safe rout and covering her ears with her hair, and then with her hood.

"This isn't because you've got a crush on Daring Charming, is it?"

Cerise felt her cheeks flush at Cedar's true words. Okay, maybe it was because she liked Daring Charming, _what was the harm in that?_ She knew that it was just a silly crush and that he didn't like her back, but that wasn't about to stop her from having a good time with him.

"No," Cerise said.

"Good," Cedar said, "because Daring's nice and all, but he's never stayed with a girl for more than a week, and I done want you to be hurt like that."

Cerise smiled at her friend's words. Cedar always wanted what was best for her friends. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," Cedar said. She glanced at the clock, reading the time. "If you don't leave soon, you'll miss the party."

"Right," Cerise said and she took off down the hall, not running for once.

* * *

 

"What's wrong with you?" Briar took the seat in the booth across from Daring.

Daring glanced up from the phone that he was pretending to be preoccupied with at his friend. "What? Nothing," he said shaking his head.

"Are you sure?" Briar asked, "Because you haven't danced with anyone all night and there is a literal line waiting for you." She pointed over her shoulder at the line leading up to the table.

"Maybe I don't want to dance," Daring suggested.

Briar narrowed her eyes at him. "You're waiting for someone," she said after a minute.

Daring quickly shook his head. "What!?! No!"

Briar smiled. "Yes, you are," she said, "And since you won't tell me who it is, she must be really special."

Daring paled. Cerise wasn't anything special. She was just a girl, just like the many girls in line to dance with him. She was just a girl who happened to be in his General Villiany class. So what is he found her interesting, and funny, and smart, that didn't mean that she was anything special. She was just the girl that he liked for the week. By next week every feeling that he had about her would be gone. Daring knew that from experience.

"She's very special indeed," Briar said with a mischievous smile. "But until she shows up, you will have to be satisfied dancing with someone else."

"Briar-" Daring protested, but Briar pulled him out of the booth anyways.

"Is it true that you were turned in to a toad in General Villiany?" she asked him as she looked around for a suitable dance partner for him.

"Yeah," Daring said, "It wasn't any fun, either. I don't see how Hooper can stand it." He trailed off as he caught sight of Cerise.

She had just entered the room, and was standing there nervously tugging at her arm, trying to hide herself as much as possible. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress with a red belt wrapped around her waist. Her normal running shoes had been abandoned and she was wearing strapped heels instead. There was a small silver necklace in the shape of a crescent moon on her neck. Her lips were colored ruby red, but the rest of her charming face was covered by her hood. Daring suddenly felt the immense urge to pull her hood back, something that he wasn't sure even she had done.

"Perfect," Briar squealed. Before Daring could say anything, Briar dragged him over to where Cerise was standing and he could finally clearly make out her face.

There were many girls in the room that night, some of them, like Briar, had been magically gifted with beauty, and on a regular day, he would've said that any number of them were prettier than Cerise. But now, looking down at Cerise's big grey eyes, full of wonder, and excitement, and a hint of something that Daring couldn't quite name, Daring forgot about all those other girls. All that he could think about was Cerise, and how pretty she looked, and how much he wanted, desperately, to kiss her.

"Cerise," Briar said, bringing Daring back to reality, "I haven't seen you at one of my parties in year."

Cerise's eyes nervously flicked to Daring. "Yeah," she said, still tugging at her arm, "Well, these things aren't really my scene."

Briar nodded understandingly. "I've got a favor to ask you," she said, "Daring here hasn't danced with anyone all night, and I don't think that it's good for him. Would you do me a favor and dance with him?"

"Umm," Cerise smiled at Daring, "If he's okay with it."

"I would love to," Daring said, before Briar could say anything. To his friend's amazement, he led Cerise to the dance floor, just as a slow song started to play. He placed one of his hands on her waist and took the other one, not missing the small blush that crept up her face. For some reason, it pleased Daring immensely.

"So you haven't danced at all tonight?" Cerise asked as Daring guided her around the dance floor.

"I wouldn't say that," Daring said.

Cerise raised a challenging eyebrow. "So, you've actually been dancing all night and Briar just didn't notice it?"

"I wouldn't say that either."

"So, what would you say?"

"I would say that you're the prettiest girl in the room tonight." It was a line that Daring had used a million times, but this time he meant it.

Cerise turned almost the same color as her hood. "Thank you," she said, after a moment, "But you should know that flattery will get you nowhere. I will not give you any points from my General Villiany project. You failed it fair and square. No matter how desperately you ask, I will not share my points."

Daring let out a dramatic sigh. "You've figured me out," he said, "I guess I'll just have to do something villainous and steal them. I'm sure I could think of a way."

"I'm sure that Professor Badwolf would appreciate you taking an interest in his subject very much. I don't think that Headmaster Grimm would, however."

Daring laughed. "No, I don't think he would." He looked down at Cerise again. She was closer to his height when she wore heels. "Though, you don't know, I may be a better villain than Badwolf."

Cerise snorted. "Please, you're Daring Charming. I don't know if anyone would make a worse villain."

"I've decided to be mad about that," Daring said, "for I will be the best villain the world will ever see."

"Maybe," Cerise said, "but villiany is a lot of work. You have to constantly watch your back. Not to mention, everyone would hate and fear you."

"Ahh," Daring said, "now I can never be a villian."

"I thought so," Cerise said, and they stopped dancing as the song came to a close. They broke apart as Melody started playing Tailor Quick's new song and the people around started dancing. Daring found that he missed the presence of Cerise's hand on his shoulder, and the feel of his hand on her waist.

"Umm," He glanced at the line of girls waiting to dance with them. They would have to wait. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Cerise smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

 

After lots of searching and being kicked out of numerous rooms for a multitude of reasons. They finally found a balcony that was, as of the moment, unoccupied. Daring let out a sigh of relief and sat down on a hard stone bench next to Cerise.

He watched her as she stared out at the moon. There was something about the moonlight that made her look different, more wild. She didn't look like Cerise that future Little Red anymore, she looked different. He didn't know how to explain it any other way.

"So," Cerise said, turning to face him, "is there a reason we ditched the party?"

Daring shrugged. "It wasn't really my scene."

"That's not a good enough reason."

"It wasn't really your scene," Daring said and Cerise nodded, "Plus, I didn't want Briar to try to set me up with someone."

"She already did that," Cerise said.

"I like you," Daring said, "I was just scared of who she would've set me up with next."

That's not a good enough reason.

"It couldn't've been that bad."

Daring shook his head. "You have no idea who she's set me up with before. There have been some truly terrible dance partners."

"I hope I wasn't one of them," Cerise said.

"You weren't," Daring said.

Cerise looked up as him and smiled. It was a small smile, but it was enough to drive Daring crazy. It was weird how she could get to him like that. One moment they would be talking, having a normal conversation, and the next he would feel the immense urge to kiss her. It rarely happened during day or in class, but he kept getting the urge tonight.

"I'm glad about that," Cerise said.

"You're welcome," Daring said, still staring at her, hoping that the moment would never end.

"If you think that this will make me share my points-"

"I don't care about points," Daring said, and, before he had time to think about anything that was going on, he kissed her.

At first, she was surprised, but after a second she started kissing back. He felt her smile briefly against his lips and she moved a hand around to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. One of his hands found its way around her waist and the other one moved up to her hood. He pushed it back and his hand entangled in her hair, brushing past her ear.

Cerise froze. Daring opened his eyes as she pushed him away from her. She stood up. He stood up only a millisecond behind her. "That," she said, pulling her hood up to hide her face once more, "That was a mistake."

Daring watched as she quickly turned around and walked away from him. He shook his head and watched her vanish from his line of sight. He must've been hallucinating, because, for a moment there, he thought that Cerise had pointed ears.

Deflated, he sat back down on the bench.

 _That was a mistake_.

The four words killed him in a way that none others could.

* * *

 

Cerise started running as soon as she knew she was out of Daring Charming's vision. She knew that it was a stupid idea to come to the party, and, because of her foolishness, she had almost exposed herself. She had almost exposed her parents.

Of course Daring Charming would kiss her, Cedar had almost told her as much. It was as if the boy could sense her feelings towards him, and had made a move based on them. Cedar had been right. Daring Charming was reckless. He had a different girl every week. Just because she had captured his attention for this past week, didn't mean that he felt anything. He would be with a different girl next week and Cerise would just be last weeks laundry.

But the way that he kissed her kept playing at the back of her mind. The way that his hand had sensitively brushed her ear had sent tingles down her spine. The feeling of his hand on her waist and the way he had laughed when she had told him that she wouldn't give him any of her points still lingered. Cerise hated the part of her that remembered those things. She hated the part of her that told her that, maybe, she was more than yesterday's laundry. She couldn't afford to be more.

She ran faster, getting out of the school and heading to the forest. She would never see Daring Charming again, and if that meant that she had to switch out of General Villiany the so be it. She never liked that class anyways. Too many witches, and fairies, and charming princes.


	5. Damsel-in-Distressing

On Monday morning Cerise didn't show up to General Villiany.

It bothered Daring that he even noticed this. He way not the kind of guy that noticed these kinds of things. He was the kind of guy that went on a date with a girl and felt no kind of remorse for never calling her back. Yet he had called Cerise a total of five times over the course Sunday. He had even gone to her dormitory only to be turned away by Cedar.

He had formulated multiple ways to tell Cerise that he was really really sorry, and that he didn't want to ruin their friendship. That was another thing that bothered him. He shouldn't've cared about his friendship with Cerise. She was cool, yeah, but it wasn't as if he hadn't been with other cool girls before. It wasn't as if he hadn't kissed them.

Daring flipped carelessly through the notes that he had been taking, the kiss with Cerise playing through his mind. It had been good. Hex, it had been great. Daring could easily say that it was one of the best kisses that he'd ever experienced, and that was what was bothering him.

He had kissed Cerise and he had loved it, but she had freaked out. She had said that it was a mistake. It was obvious that she didn't feel the same way, yet she had still kissed him back. She had been just as passionate as he had about it until-

"Mr. Charming?" Professor Badwolf's voice boomed through the classroom. All eyes turned towards Daring and he felt his face burning.

"Yes, sir?" Daring asked.

"Are you with us, or are you on vacation?"

"I'm with you, sir," Daring said, nervously glancing down at the almost blank sheet of notes in front of him. He prayed that Professor Badwolf wouldn't take them up because he was sure to get a detention. Then again, a detention might not be that bad. Cerise had missed a class, and for that she would get one too.

Daring shook his head. He had to stop thinking about Cerise.

"Good," Professor Badwolf said and he resumed teaching his lesson.

One by one, his classmates eyes turned back to the board, until Daring felt only one pair of eyes remaining. He glanced up from his notebook to find Raven Queen's purple eyes watching him like she knew everything. Maybe she did. That thought scared Daring almost as much as the thought that he might actually be falling for Cerise Hood. Almost.

* * *

 

"All that I'm saying, Ms. Yaga, is that there is no way that General Villainy will help me later on in life," Cerise said, rising from her seat across from the school's guidance counselor, "It's not as if I'm a villain."

"There's no need to get upset," Baba Yaga waved Cerise down, "I can see your point."

"Great."

"However, most of the classes are full. It appears that the only one with an open spot is Damsel-in-distressing."

Cerise froze. The thought of taking Damsel-in-distressing was enough to make her want to hurl. For a second, she considered telling Baba Yaga that General Villiany wasn't all that bad, but then Daring Charming's stupidly handsome face flashed across her mind. No. She could take Damsel-in-distressing.

"I think that Headmaster Grimm would like you to take an interest in something relative to your story," Baba Yaga continued, "Yes, Damsel-in-distressing will serve you very well in your story." She scribbled something across a piece of paper and handed it to Cerise. "It's in the B hall," she said.

"Thanks," Cerise said and left the office.

The Damsel-in-distressing classroom was just where Baba Yaga said it would be. Cerise eyed the door warily, not exactly sure if she wanted to do this. Some part of her knew that she was running away, and that she was Cerise Hood, she never backed down from a challenge. Even when that challenge presented itself as a tall, muscular, blond prince who would break her heart and ruin her family. Cerise nodded, she wasn't just doing this for herself, she was doing this for her family.

Her parents' marriage had been illegal. There was no way in the world that the big bad wolf would ever be allowed to marry Little Red Riding Hood, it just simply wasn't done that way. Yet her parents had done exactly that and made the choice to be a Rebel for Cerise.

Sighing, Cerise pulled her hood further down and entered the room. A woman in a blue dress with a blue cone shaped hat stopped talking as she came in.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked.

"Yes," Cerise nervously played with the slip of paper in her hand as she glanced around the room. Every princess in existence was sitting in the classroom. All of them sitting perfectly in pairs of two. Cerise turned back to the teacher. "Baba Yaga changed my class." She handed the slip of paper to the woman.

The woman smiled. "Well, you're just in time. We're starting a new unit on enchanted sleep today. I'm Maid Marian. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of open desks, so you can just partner up with Darling." She gestured to a girl about a year or two younger than Cerise, sitting in the back corner of the room.

As Cerise moved to the desk where Darling was, she couldn't help but notice the pristine condition of the room. It was in much better shape than her father's classroom. Cerise set her bag down and started taking notes in what used to be her General Villainy notebook.

"There's not really anything interesting enough to take notes about," the girl next to her said.

Cerise turned to face the girl, who was wearing a worn out Tailor Quick shirt. In a class full of pristine princesses, this girl stuck out like a sore thumb. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and, while she was wearing a skirt, Cerise could see a pair of athletic shorts sticking out from underneath.

"Really?" Cerise asked.

"Yeah," the girl said, "This class is a breeze. Just remember, the answer to every question on the tests is wait for a prince to save you. It's pretty boring if you ask me."

"Sounds boring," Cerise said.

"So, why'd you change classes?" the girl asked.

Cerise shrugged. "I was taking General Villainy. It didn't really fit with my story." Cerise gave the answer that she had prepared.

"You should've stayed with General Villainy. Stories are overrated." Cerise was beginning to like this girl. "I'm Darling, by the way," the girl said.

"Cerise," Cerise said. "So, you like Tailor Quick?" she asked.

The girl smiled. "She's my role model. I mean, she had her own dream, and she followed it. She didn't listen to what others told her. And she's the only artist to ever successfully switch from country music over to pop. If that's not an achievement I don't know what is. Plus, she's an activist for damsels' rights, and she loves cats. How can you hate a person who loves cats?"

"Darling," Maid Marian interrupted what Cerise was sure would've been a long ode to Tailor Quick, "Do you have something that you would like to tell the class?"

"Only that I think that damsels should be able to save themselves," Darling said without skipping a beat, "Princes can be pretty useless. I should know."

"You're opinion is noted," Maid Marian said and she returned to teaching.

Darling turned to Cerise. "Don't worry," she said with a smile, "She secretly likes damsels who don't want to be in distress, she just can't tell anyone or she'll be replaced."

Cerise just nodded.

* * *

 

"I really don't understand why she would switch to Damsel-in-distressing after all the effort she puts in to not being a damsel in distress," Daring looked up from his Advanced Wooing textbook as Apple and Briar sat down across from him.

"Maybe she just wants to follow her destiny," Apple suggested, "Damsel-in-distressing is a great class for her to take if she wants to do that."

"If who wants to do that?" Daring asked, looking from one girl to the other.

"Cerise Hood," Briar answered, "She joined our Damsel-in-distressing class."

Daring's heart sank. Cerise had switched classes just to get away from him. Was he really that bad?

"Briar is trying to figure out why she switched classes," Apple said, "She doesn't think that a Rebel such as Cerise could change her mind about following her destiny."

Briar raised her hands in defense of herself. "Hey, I'm just saying that Cerise isn't much into being a damsel in distress."

"That's right," Daring said. He tried to picture Cerise sitting down and enjoying Damsel-in-distressing. He had an easier time seeing his sister do so. "Did she tell any of you guys why?"

"Would we be trying to figure it out if she had," Briar looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Ask your sister," Apple said, "They seemed to have hit it off."

* * *

 

Daring found his sister in Charming Hall with her rapier out. She smiled as she noticed Daring.

"Do you want to fence?" she asked.

In response, Daring pulled a rapier off of the wall behind her. "You're in an awfully happy mood," he commented.

Darling shrugged. "I got an A on my Muse-ic test. If I keep this up, I'll be able to test out and take Heroics next year instead."

Daring waved the rapier around a bit, testing the balance. "That's good," he said, "Just don't tell Mother what you're planning until it's too late to do anything about it."

"That was my plan," Darling said, "Although, she could change my schedule if she really wanted to."

"She'd have to talk to Baba Yaga about it first," Daring said and Darling smiled. Both of them knew of their mother's fear of the old witch.

The Charming siblings faced each other. As usual, both of them bowed before Daring started his attack.

"I made a new friend," Darling said as she parried Daring's thrust.

"Oh, really?" Daring tried to sound casual as he attacked his sister.

"I think," Darling said without breaking a sweat, "Her name's Cerise Hood. You probably don't know her. She's pretty cool."

Daring nodded. She was pretty cool, and nice, and funny, and just pretty in general.

"I think that she likes Tailor Quick."

"Well, that's a plus," Daring said.

"Yeah, and she likes to run. She's really fast."

Really fast. The image of the back of Cerise Hood's head as she ran away from him was forever etched in to his skull. The way that her heels clicked on the pavement, and those fours words. The moment when she had told him, flushed and embarrassed, that it was a mistake, that she never should have kissed him. That moment kept playing on repeat.

"Earth to Daring," Darling said, pulling him back to reality.

"Yeah, sorry," Daring said, looking at his sister, "I'm kind of out of it."

"I can tell," Darling said, eyeing him cautiously, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

Darling nodded understandingly. "Are you done fencing? 'Cause we could take a break if you want."

"Are you kidding me?" Daring said, "I'm just getting started."

Darling smiled. "That's my brother," she said and started attacking Daring.

As Daring blocked her advances and started to fight back, he swore to himself that he would put Cerise Hood out of his mind. All that he needed to do was forget about her and every feeling that he ever had would evaporate. The only problem was that Cerise Hood was not a very easy person for Daring Charming to forget about, not at all.


	6. Dwarves Choirs

"You can't hide forever," Cerise Hood looked up from her Chemythstry thronework at Raven, who was laying on her bed with her ankles crossed.

Cerise sighed. Raven was right, she couldn't hide forever, but hiding was what she was good at. It was what she did. She wouldn't've worn the stupid hood if she wasn't hiding.

"You could try talking to him," Raven suggested.

"And say what? How am I supposed to explain all of this to him?" Cerise gestured to herself.

"If he really cares for you, then he'll accept you as you are."

Cerise let out a cold, short laugh, that was more of a bark than anything else. "He doesn't really care for me," she said.

"How do you know that?"

"Because it's not his destiny to!"

"And it was your parents' destinies to fall in love?"

Cerise shook her head. "My parents were Rebels. That's different. Daring...he's a Royal through and through."

"He doesn't have to be-" Raven started, but Cerise cut her off.

"He chose to be. He likes his destiny, why wouldn't he? He's a Charming, after all."

"But his siblings aren't like that. At least, Dexter's not."

Cerise stared at her friend. Raven liked Dexter, and Dexter liked her back. That was a problem for them. She didn't want to burst her friend's bubble, but Dexter Charming was going to end up with some princess who was perfectly nice, and talked to animals, and was really friendly to everyone, and was drop dead gorgeous, and was better than her in pretty much every way. Raven would realize that. One day. And it would break her heart.

Cerise wouldn't do that. It was her destiny to run, so she'd run.

"It could work. I mean, look at Ashlynn and Hunter. They're in love."

"And Ashlynn's going to have to be swept off of her feet by a prince. She already signed the book of legends. Hunter's not a prince," Cerise pointed out.

"But they're living in the here and now. Isn't that all that matters?"

"No, it's not," Cerise said. She was all for living in the here and now, but the future was ahead no matter how hard anyone tried to change it. The future was always coming, and Cerise knew that her future didn't include Daring Charming.

* * *

 

Daring Charming was doing really well. He could honestly say that he hadn't thought of Cerise Hood for the past five days. Well, that wasn't completely true. He had thought of her every time that he saw the color red, but there wasn't any red in his room, so he didn't think about her. Not really.

Daring scrolled through his MirrorBook, flipping through BookPage. He quickly liked Briar's picture of a Hextreme sporting event that she had attended and he ignore his brother's selfie with Raven Queen. He was about to take a 'Which Fairy Tale Character are You' personality quiz when he noticed Cerise's picture in the 'People You May Know' column.

Without thinking, Daring opened her profile. It was full of pictures of her with her friends. There was a picture of Raven Queen, Cedar Wood, and Maddie Hatter with a caption that read 'best friends forever after'. There was another one of her and her mother. Daring paused as he noticed a picture from a few days ago.

There was a picture of a brown and green spotted frog that looked desperate and scared. The caption under the frog read 'Daring makes a rather handsome frog'.

Daring sat there, just staring at the picture of frog-him. So, that was how Briar had found out. He had wondered how she knew that he had been turned in to a frog. He had also wondered why she had wanted him to dance with Cerise that night.

_Did she know? Did Briar know that he liked Cerise?_

A knock came at the door. Daring closed his MirrorBook and answered it. Standing in the doorway was Apple White, looking perfect, as usual. She smiled as she saw him.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Ready for what?" Daring asked.

He tried to ignore the fact that Apple was wearing red. Why wouldn't she wear red? It was her signature color. It was also Cerise's signature color. Daring shook his head. He wouldn't think about Cerise.

Apple just stared at him, surprised. "For our date. You forgot, didn't you?"

Daring shook his head. "I didn't forget," he said. It wasn't a complete lie. He hadn't forgotten about his date with Apple. He hadn't. He had simply elected to ignore it while he BookPage stalked a girl he wasn't supposed to like-that he didn't like, Daring corrected himself.

"Are you sure? Because it looks like you forgot."

"I didn't forget," Daring ran in to his room and grabbed his jacket off of his bed. Going on a date with Apple was the perfect thing to do to keep his mind off of other people that he wouldn't name at the moment. Apple was the perfect model for a princess, and she was his true love. She had to be. If she wasn't...

"Let's get going," Daring said and Apple smiled. That smile didn't have the same affect on him that it used to.

* * *

 

Cerise watched a boy dash away from them, his head hung down in rejection. She turned to her partner, who was deciding what coffee to order. "That's the sixth guy that you've turned down," Cerise commented.

"Really?" Darling turned to look at her, "I don't really keep track of them."

"That's the sixth guy that proposed to you since we entered the shop. Then there were the two that fought over holding the door open for you. And at least five guys fell over themselves trying to catch up with you. You walk really fast, did I mention that?"

"I think you did," Darling said ordering a caramel mocha latte with a shot of espresso and a dash of cinnamon, "You didn't have any problem keeping up with me, though."

Cerise shrugged nervously. "Oh, you know, I'm just a natural runner."

Darling seemed to accept this, nodding as she and Cerise took a seat. Cerise smiled as the waiter came over, desperately trying to catch Darling's attention, and set their drinks down. Darling ignored him.

Cerise looked at her friend. "I've never had them bring my drink to the table before," she said.

Darling let out a sigh. "You're lucky. When a guy brings your drinks to you, he probably wants to marry you."

"Why are there so many guys who want to marry you, anyways?"

"I'm the only Charming princess," Darling explained, "Even after I became a Rebel openly guys still proposed to me. For some reason, I thought that it would deter them."

"You being a Rebel," Cerise snorted, "No offense, but when I first met you, I thought that you'd be a stuck up princess."

"It's the name," Darling said, "Charming means that you follow your destiny-even though most of us don't know what that destiny is."

"You don't?"

"Well, it's be kidnapped by some beast and rescued by a prince. I decided a long time ago that if I'm ever kidnapped, a prince won't be the one doing the rescuing."

"How'd your parents take the news?" Cerise doubted that Dr. King Charming and Queen Charming would accept their daughter's decision to write her own destiny.

"They hated it," Darling said, "So did Daring, at first. I think he's come to accept it. He actually likes having someone his own level to spar with. Dexter was supportive to begin with. Rosabella loved it when I told her."

"Well, I say good for you."

"Thanks," Darling smiled. "It means a lot to have a friend who's supportive. Most of the princesses didn't really care. Apple royally freaked."

Cerise could practically see Apple fainting when Darling told her. For some reason, that mental image made her smile.

She took a sip of her coffee and glanced at Darling. Maybe she would introduce her to Raven. Those two girls had a lot more in common than both of them knew. To begin with; Dexter.

* * *

 

Daring didn't know how much more he could take of Apple talking about their wedding plans. Normally, he would've loved it-hearing Apple talk about them was only second to talking about himself-but a lot of things had changed since his last date with Apple. Now, he hated to think about the future. Why couldn't Apple just live in the now?

He looked down at his coffee, which was named especially after him. He was Daring Charming. Everyone loved him. Everyone, that is, except the person that actually mattered. He shook his head, he wouldn't think about her.

"I was thinking that we could have a choir of birds and pixies during the wedding, and then afterwards, at the reception, we could have a dwarves choir."

"Why not a band?" Daring suggested. Apple looked at him with wide eyes, surprised that he even spoke out against her idea.

"Why would we have a band?"

"Because, no offense Apple, but no one likes dwarves choirs. They sing like frogs."

"Okay, then we could have a sparrow choir-"

"How about Raven?" Daring cut her off.

"Ravens? Why on earth would you want a raven choir? They sound horrible, and they are the ugliest of birds."

Daring shook his head. "Not ravens-"

"Good."

"Raven, with a capital _R_. As in, your roommate."

Apple looked like she was about to pass out. "Why would we invite the woman who poisoned me to our wedding?"

"First of all, I think that we both know that she isn't going to poison you. Second of all, she's a spelltastic singer. Third of all, even if she does poison you, she's an important part of your story."

"Our story," Apple corrected him.

"It doesn't say anywhere that I'm your Prince Charming. You could end up with Dexter, or one of my cousins."

"But I'm not going to end up with Dexter. I'm going to end up with you." Apple's face got redder and redder.

Daring looked at the girl across from him. Apple was nice. A bit of a control freak? Yes. But she was nice. And she was pretty. Daring didn't used to have a problem with marrying Apple, but now, he didn't really want to.

The problem was this: Daring had given himself three days to get over Cerise. If she had been any other girl, it would've happened in one, but instead, it didn't happen at all. He could no longer see himself with Apple. The only girl that he could see himself with was Cerise.

It was strange. Apple was perfect. She was literally the most perfect girl at Ever After. Cerise was weird. She was hiding something, and Daring knew that. Yet, instead of being wary of her, he wanted to find out what it was that she was hiding.

"You're my Prince Charming," Apple said, and Daring knew, in that moment, that he wasn't her Prince Charming. More than that, Daring didn't want to be her Prince Charming.

"No, Apple," Daring said, "I'm not." He looked at the utterly perfect girl sitting across from, sputtering. Apple was perfect, he would be a fool not to recognize this, but Daring didn't want perfect. Not anymore. "I think that we should take a break."

As soon as he uttered those words, Apple White fell out of her chair and fainted.


	7. Royally Perfect

Briar found him in his dorm room, lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had hexpected her to come storming in and demand why he had broken up with Apple. Instead, she had quietly opened the door and sat on the edge of Daring's bed.

"If you're here to lecture me," Daring said, "you can leave."

Briar shifted at the end of his bed. "I came here to lecture you, but I'm not going to. You're my friend too."

Daring sat up and looked at Briar. With her love for hextreme sports and partying, it was easy to forget that Briar was actually a really thoughtful person.

"Why not?" Daring asked.

Briar studied him for a moment. "Apple loves her destiny. Her entire life, it's been her only constant. Then Raven decided that she didn't want to be evil. She didn't really know what to do with herself, but you saying that, maybe, you two aren't true love...now she's more uncertain than ever."

"You think that I'm being selfish."

Briar nodded. "I think that both of you are."

"What?"

"Apple's the hero of her story. She's my best friend forever after, don't get me wrong, but the hero always gets everything. She doesn't think about what others lose. She depends so much upon Raven, but she doesn't realize that if she gets her way, Raven will end up in chains or worse."

Daring nodded. He hadn't really thought about Raven, but now all of her rebelling made sense.

"How did you figure all of this stuff out?"

After a moment of silence, Briar asked, "Can I trust you to keep a secret?"

"Of course."

Briar took a deep breath of air. "I never signed the Storybook of Legends."

"Neither did half of the school. Raven kind of ruined that."

"But, I don't want to anymore."

"Why not? Your a hero."

"No," Briar said firmly, "I'm a damsel. There's a difference. Your sister's right when she says that damsels don't do anything. We don't. But at least Apple is only asleep for a short period of time. I'm asleep for a hundred years. Everyone I know will be dead by the time that I wake up."

"But that's why you have all of the parties, right?"

Briar smiled. It was a sad smile. "That's what I thought, but the more I live it up, the less I want to go to sleep for a hundred years. And I don't want to be woken by a kiss from a random stranger. Apple knows you. I won't know my prince who'll be a hundred years younger than me. Do you understand?"

A month ago, Daring wouldn't've understood what Briar was saying. He probably would've said that she was crazy and told Headmaster Grimm that she was questioning her destiny. Now that he was questioning his own destiny, Daring understood what she was saying all too well.

"Yeah," Daring said, "I understand. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks," Brair said. She leaned back and rested her head on her hands. "So, do you want to tell me why you started questioning your destiny?"

Daring didn't want to tell Briar, but it was only fair. She had told him her secret, he should tell her his.

"Do you remember when Headmaster Grimm had me switched to General Villainy?"

* * *

 

Cerise got a hext from Raven during the middle of her second coffee.

**Raven: Meet me outside my dorm ASAP**

"Sorry," Cerise apologized to Darling, "Raven needs to meet up with me."

"What's this about?"

"I don't know," Cerise stared at the text message as if it would give her answers. Raven knew almost all of Cerise's secrets, so it could be about any of them.

"Can I come?" Darling asked.

Cerise knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Darling. As much as she liked and admired the girl, she was still Daring's sister. She was about to tell her no, when Darling's phone pinged with a hext message.

"It's from Dex," she said, "I'm supposed to meet him outside of Raven's room."

"Let's go then."

Cerise and Darling ran, quite literally, through the halls of Ever After High, up several flights of stairs, and around many corridor corners before coming to a stop outside of Raven's room.

Raven was standing at the door, pounding against it, and telling Apple to let her in, but Apple wouldn't. Dexter was right behind Raven with his MirrorPad and book bag in his arms. They both looked exhausted and annoyed.

"What's going on?" Cerise asked.

"I don't know," Raven said, "Dexter and I were going to do thronework, but when we got here Apple had all of the doors locked and was crying."

"Briar went in," Dexter added, "then she came back out and ran down the hallway without saying anything to either of us."

"So, what happened that's got Apple all gloomy?" Darling asked. "I don't think I've ever seen her anything but cheerful, except that one time when Duchess said that Daring might not be her Prince Charming."

Darling stopped and the group shared a look. Finally, it was Dexter who said the words, "Someone suggested that Daring's not her Prince Charming."

"No," Raven shook her head, "She had a date with Daring today." She glanced guiltily at Cerise, who hadn't heard this information. Cerise tried to shrug it off. After all, she was over him, right?

She was so over him that she didn't even think about him, and she definitely hadn't blocked him on every single site just to stop thinking about him. No, she would never do that. She was mature and knew how to get rid of a stupid crush.

She had to get over this liking Daring thing. He was destined to be with Apple, the same girl that was crying in her room because someone had dared suggest that she wasn't meant to be with Daring. Apple and Daring were meant for each other, not Cerise and Daring.

"Who would do that, though?" Cerise asked.

"Duchess, for one," Darling answered quickly, "Probably Sparrow Hood, because he's an idiot. Briar might've accidentally. Maybe Ashlynn."

"Ashlynn's too nice to do that," Cerise protested.

"Not if Apple was giving her the destiny speech," Darling pointed out and all of them nodded. Apple's destiny speech made almost everyone lose their heads.

"Maybe we should get Headmaster Grimm down here," Dexter suggested.

"No!" all three of the girl's shouted at the same time. Headmaster Grimm would only make things worse.

Cerise swallowed as she thought of the only person that could get Apple out of her current state-the one person that she had been avoiding.

"What about Daring?" she suggested.

Both of the Charming siblings nodded as Raven asked, "Are you sure that you're okay with that?"

Cerise smiled weakly. "Yeah," she said, "Daring and Apple are meant for each other, right?"

* * *

 

Daring Charming didn't know how, but he found himself at the door to the General Villainy classroom. He had been searching the halls for a quiet place to just sit and think since Briar had left him. His phone had been ringing off the hook, and, though Briar swore that his secret was safe with her, he had no doubt of the scandal that he had caused by suggesting to Apple that they weren't meant for each other.

Daring opened the door to the General Villainy classroom and quietly took a seat in the back of the empty classroom. He had royally screwed up. He was Daring Charming. He was the favorite of his father, the one who followed the rules. His sister was the rebel, not him.

Yet what he had done not one hour ago had been the same thing that a Rebel would've done. He had dismissed his destiny and said that he wanted something else-someone else.

It could work, he knew that it could. Ashlynn and Hinter were the perfect example of two people who went out because they liked each other, not because of destiny. They were the Roybel couple. Almost everyone said that they were perfect for each other. But Daring and Cerise...that was a different story. Daring was a Charming, and Charmings were traditionalists.

"Can I help you with something Mr. Charming?" Daring looked at the teacher who had silently entered the room.

If there was any teacher at the school that Daring was scared of, it was Professor Badwolf. He was a terrifying shape shifting werewolf. As usual, he wore clothes that made it look like he was going on a hunting trip, all flannel, plaid, and leather. His grey hair was slicked back and his beard was recently shaven. Looking at him, Daring couldn't help but notice how much he looked like... _Cerise_.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" Professor Badwolf asked again.

"No," Daring said.

"Then what you are doing in my classroom?"

Daring stared at the teacher. He looked so much like Cerise. Daring was surprised that he hadn't noticed it before. Their hair was almost exactly the same. Cerise's broad shoulders resembled that of Professor Badwolf's. They even sounded the same, though Cerise's voice was a bit kinder.

_Where the Hoods and the Wolfs related?_

"Do the Wolfs have any relation to the Hoods?" Daring asked.

Professor Badwolf growled. "The Hoods and the Wolfs hate each other."

"I know that," Daring said, "but is there any relation between the two clans?"

"Why do _you_ want to know?"

"Because you look a lot like Cerise Hood," Daring said it without even thinking. He regretted it almost the exact moment that he did.

Professor Badwolf's eyes narrowed. "You've been studying Cerise Hood, recently?"

"Um..."

"I have already told you, the Wolfs and the Hoods hate each other. If there was any relation it was forgotten long ago. Now, I suggest that you leave."

Not wanting to anger his teacher, Daring stood up and headed towards the door.

"And stay away from Cerise Hood," Professor Badwolf barked as Daring left, "A boy like you doesn't want to get mixed up with a girl like her."

* * *

 

"He won't pick up," Darling sighed, exasperated, after her tenth voicemail to Daring, "That's it. I'm calling Blondie."

"Wait," Raven said, "If Blondie catches hold of this, there's sure to be a story. We don't want this to get any worse than it already is."

"Raven's right," Dexter said.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Cerise, who up until that point had been watching the whole exchange with quiet interest, spoke up, "How about you try a spell, Raven."

"Oh no," Raven shook her head, "It will backfire."

"How do you know?" Dexter asked.

"All of my spells backfire," Raven said.

"Just do it," Cerise said with a sigh, "We haven't got all day."

Raven looked at her friend then nodded. She rubbed her hands together and muttered something under her breath. Everyone watched as her hands began to glow purple. With her eyes closed, Raven stepped up to the door and pressed a purple hand against it. A moment passed with nothing happening.

"Maybe it didn't work," Darling said just as they heard a click and the door cracked open.

Raven was the first inside, the rest of them not far behind her. Apple was lying on her bed, sniffling. Her hair was spread around her in a halo and her dress wasn't even rumpled a bit. Even when she was crying, she looked perfect. She looked up as they came in.

"Oh," she muttered, "It's you." She looked disappointed.

"Apple," Raven said slowly, "Can you tell us what happened?"

"He said that we weren't meant to be together," Apple said quietly. Darling shot Cerise a look that screamed _'I told you so'._

"Who said that you weren't meant to be together?" Raven asked.

"Who do you think?" Apple yelled, "Daring."

The room was quickly filled with a stunned silence. Daring Charming had told Apple White that they weren't meant for a happily ever after? No, that couldn't be right. It must've been another Daring. A small part of Cerise wished that she had been the cause of Daring and Apple's 'breakup',  but she knew better. Apple must've just misinterpreted it.

"Daring, as in my brother Daring?" Darling asked.

"Who else?"

"He's about this tall, blond hair, blinding smile?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"No need to shout," Raven said.

Apple burst in to tears. "Why would he do this to me?" she whined.

Cerise didn't know why Daring would do that. The Daring that she knew was proud and funny. He laughed at her jokes and bickered with her like they were old friends. He kissed her like her meant it and- _No!_ She wouldn't go there.

"He would never do this," Apple said. She turned and angrily pointed a finger at Raven. "This is all your fault."

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You run around telling people to forget about their destinies and choose their own path. He wouldn't've left me if it wasn't for your talk of rebelling."

"None of this is Raven's fault," Dexter said.

Cerise felt the pool of guilt in her stomach getting deeper and deeper with every word. Daring had called her five times, and each time she had ignored him. Was it possible that his breakup with Apple was her fault?

Cerise pulled her phone out of her pocket as she felt it vibrate. It was a hext from her dad.

**Dad: Enchanted Forest.**   
**Dad: NOW!**

When her father typed in all caps, Cerise knew that there was trouble.

Not bothering to excuse herself, Cerise ran down twelve flights of stairs and down three corridors in under a minute. She was in the Enchanted Forest at their meeting spot in two. Her dad was waiting for her. By his expression, she could tell that he wasn't happy.

"What wrong?" Cerise asked, skidding to a stop.

"You need to stay away from that boy," her father said.

"What boy?"

"Daring Charming."

Cerise paused. She had been staying away from Daring Charming. It was what she had been doing for the past week.

"I am," she said.

"Well, he's on our trail just the same."

"What?"

"He asked me if the Hoods and Wolfs were related."

"What? Why?"

"I found him in my classroom today. He commented on how alike we look. Have you been spending a lot of time with him recently?"

Cerise sucked in a breath. "I was."

"But you're not anymore. Why?"

"We kissed," She watched as her father's expression of rage melted in to one of pure horror.

"You like him?" he asked quietly.

"No...yes...it's complicated. Look, the only thing that you need to know is that I haven't talked to him since. I've been keeping my distance."

"That's good," her dad said. He studied her for a moment. "There's something else that you're not telling me."

"He broke up with Apple."

"I knew that we should've sent you to Monster High," Her father muttered under his breath, "This is not good. Not good at all."

"Why?"

"You're a very pretty girl, Cerise."

"Not as pretty as Apple," Cerise protested.

"That doesn't matter," Badwolf said, "You're a wolf. Wolves leave impacting impressions on people, even if they don't know that you're one. He doesn't, does he?"

"No," Cerise shook her head.

"Good," her dad said, "Just make sure to stay away from him. Hopefully, this will sort itself out in a month or two."

"Hopefully?"

"Hopefully, Daring Charming hasn't made up his mind that he likes you. I know Charmings, and once they want something, they will do everything in their power to get it."


	8. Darling Charming

"What's wrong?" Daring turned around to see Darling leaning against the door of the Charming Hall, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Why do you think that something's wrong?" Daring asked.

Darling's eyes flicked from Daring to the mannequin that ha had been attacking. "It's missing all of it's limbs," she said, "That only happens when something's wrong."

Daring looked at the mannequin, all of its limbs were gone, spewed across the floor. Darling was right, it was something that he only did when he was frustrated or confused. Right now, he was both.

Cerise was avoiding him. Every time that he got within ten feet of her, she disappeared or turned the other way. He really wanted to talk to her. He missed hanging out with her. Missed her snide comments, her jokes, the way that she didn't let him get away with anything. 

Apple wasn't any better. She kept trying to convince him that he was wrong. Despite the fact that Cerise was avoiding him, Daring still didn't think that he was wrong. He wasn't Apple's true love, that was some one else.

"It's Apple, isn't it?" Darling asked.

Daring shrugged. "Among other things."

"Other things?"

"There's a girl that I like, that keeps avoiding me."

Darling laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Daring shook his head.

"But how is that possible? You're...you. You're the most pursued guy at the school. I know tons of girls(and a few guys too) who would die to go on a date with you."

His sister's words stung, even though he knew that they weren't supposed to. There had been a time when Daring Charming enjoyed being the most pursued guy at Ever After, but that's been before he'd met Cerise. There was something different about Cerise, something that he wasn't quiet sure that he wanted to name. Something that he was afraid to name.

Cerise kept running away from him, like he was something terrible. Like he was the big bad wolf. But Cerise hadn't been afraid of the big bad wolf. She was weird that way. What kind of person was afraid of a hero and not their own villain. It was why Daring had asked Mr. Badwolf if there was any relation between the Hoods and Wolfs. It was the only explanation that he could think of.

"Yeah, well, not this girl."

"Who is she?"

A second, then, "Cerise."

"Cerise Hood?" Darling asked, "You like Cerise Hood?"

"Don't act so surprised," Daring said defensively.

"I'm not. I mean, she's a great person. I'm just surprised that she doesn't like you."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Darling said, shaking her head, "Nothing at all."

* * *

 

"You've been avoiding me," Cerise looked up from her MirrorPad at Darling Charming in the seat across from her, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Darling's accusations were right. Cerise had been avoiding her, but not all of the time. Only whenever her brother was in the room because that would give him a reason to come over and talk to them.

Cerise had been following her father's orders to stay away from Daring, as much as it pained her to do so. She was ninth nine percent sure that Daring had broken it off with Apple because of her. And she wanted, more than anything, to start a relationship with Daring. He was great; brave, funny, a leader. But Cerise couldn't start a relationship with Daring Charming. As long as she was a wolf, it was impossible.

"So, you don't deny it? You've been avoiding me," Darling said.

"If you say so," Cerise shrugged and picked up her empty tray.

Darling followed her to the trash can. "Good," she said, "So, now you have to make it up to me."

Cerise looked at Darling. "I don't have to make anything up to you, Darl," she said.

"Fine, whatever," Darling said, "But just answer my question."

"Go ahead."

"Do you like my brother?"

Cerise choked. "What?"

"Daring, do you like him?"

Darling was standing in front of Cerise with her arms crossed. _How did she know? How on earth had she figured it out?_

"Um...he's nice, I guess."

"That's not what I mean," Darling sighed.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Fine," Darling huffed, "Don't answer my question." Cerise breathed a sigh of relief. "On a totally unrelated topic, I have two tickets to the Bookball Super Bowl, and Rosebella has a protest and Raven has a date with Dexter, do you want to come?"

Cerise smiled, glad that Darling wasn't asking her if she liked Daring anymore. But, the Super Bowl was on a full moon, the last time that she had gone out on a full moon, she'd ended up kissing Daring Charming. But this wasn't Daring, this was Darling, her friend. The girl that she had been avoiding because her father was afraid of what a Charming would do if they learned their secret. She could keep a secret from Darling, her brother, on the other hand, was different.

"Since when have you known me to pass up on Bookball?"

"Good," Darling smiled, "I'll meet you in the Charming box. Just show them this." She handing Cerise a laminated pass.

"Thanks," Cerise said.

"Oh, don't thank me yet."

* * *

 

Darling caught up to Daring as he was walking down the hallway with Briar. "Here you go," she said, handing him a laminated bookball pass.

"What's this for?" Daring asked.

"I just thought that it would take your mind off of the whole Cerise thing," Darling said.

Daring looked down at the pass. "You hate bookball."

"Just think of it as me doing something nice for my brother."

Daring narrowed his eyes at her, but slipped the pass in to his bag anyways. Darling smiled to herself as she ran off towards her dorm room. By this weekend, everything was going to be fixed, one way or another. Or it was going to be a million time worse. Darling tried to ignore that last thought. Think positive.

"What'd you do?" Rosebella eyed Darling as she entered their room.

Darling shrugged. "Nothing," she said, "Nothing at all."


	9. Nachos

Daring shoved his way through the crowd of people milling about the lower levels of the bookball stadium, trying to make his way to the elevator. He sidestepped a werewolf wearing a black Wolves jersey and smiled to himself. It had been too long since he had been to a professional bookball game.

Navigating his way through the rest of the crowd, Daring finally made it to the elevator where an attendant was standing guard. He nodded once to the attendant, flashing his pass as he stepped in to the elevator.

As the doors closed, Daring took a moment to soak in the silence. No doubt once he caught up with Darling there would be nothing but cheering and talking. Daring was looking forward to hanging out with his sister, but right now he needed to think.

Darling had invited him to a bookball game, and, while it was a very nice gesture and something that Daring definitely needed, he knew that she had some sort of alternative motive. Daring loved his sister, but he hadn't been to a bookball game with her since she was thirteen. No. She wasn't just being sisterly. This was about something more.

The issue with Darling was that she liked to meddle. She wanted to be a knight and she took it as her personal duty to see to it that others were happy. She felt the need to help people, even if those people didn't want help. Right now, Daring got the feeling that he was the said person.

Daring ran through the possible reasons why Darling could've invited him. He couldn't come up with many, and the one that he did come up with was impossible. Sure, Darling was friends with _her_ , but so were a lot of people. Plus, she would never come to a bookball game, not when there was the possibility that Daring would be there. She had made it all to clear that she wanted nothing to do with Daring. Nothing at all.

The doors pinged open and Daring stepped in to the rather large and completely empty Charming box. He took his regular seat in the very front row and sighed. Darling would never do that to him. She would never try to fix his life or find him a date, because he didn't want her to. He didn't want other people to meddle in his affairs.

Daring stared at the green field below. He would forget about his sister's alternative motives and try to have a fun time. After all, there was no other person that he'd rather watch bookball with. Well, maybe one other person, but Cerise wasn't talking to him.

And she never would.

* * *

 

"Darling!" Cerise shouted in to her phone, "Where are you?" She glanced around from her position in the concessions line. She saw many blonde heads, but none of them belonged to one Darling Charming.

"I'm running late," Darling said, "You should probably go up without me."

Cerise eyed the attendant next to the elevator warily. He didn't look like the person who would let just anyone in to that elevator. He appeared to be guarding it with his life, and the scary knives that rested at his side only helped reenforce that point.

"I'm not sure that's such a great idea," Cerise said.

On the other side of the line, Darling laughed. "You're looking at Johnson, aren't you?"

"Who?"

"The attendant. I swear, he's a lot nicer than he looks. Just tell him that you're with me."

"Okay," Cerise agreed to Darling's plan. "Do you want me to get you anything to eat?"

"You do realize that the box will have real food, right?"

Cerise snorted. "Don't be a snob, Darling. I'm getting you some nachos."

"I didn't say that I wanted-"

"You're getting nachos, end of story."

"Whatever," Darling huffed. "Bye."

"Later," Cerise closed her phone and shuffled forward in line, bumping in to a bad tempered werewolf as she did so.

"Watch it!" the guy barked and Cerise backed up, just barely dodging a group of college age knights, all of them decked out in blue Knight merchandise and holding various alcoholic beverages.

She watched them pass and glanced nervously at the moon, just outside. Cerise shook her head, she could do this. The moon didn't control her. As long as nothing unpredictable happened, Cerise would be fine. And nothing unpredictable was going to happen. _Nothing. At. All._

* * *

 

Darling snapped her phone shut and spun around in her chair. The plan was falling perfectly in to place. It was if the fates had suddenly decided to stop working against Darling. Or maybe, since Daring was involved, they were making an exception.

"It's not going to work," Rosebella said from her desk.

Darling faced her friend. "Of course, it's going to work," she said, "It's a perfect plan."

"You're right," Rosebella said, "It's totally perfect, except for two small, little, minuscule factors; Daring and Cerise. They are unpredictable."

Darling laughed. "Come on, Rose," she said, "If anything, they're predictable."

"Apart? Yes. But together? You don't know what will happen."

"That's what I'm counting on," Darling said. She turned away from her friend and picked up her phone once more. She had one more important call to make. "Humphry? Yes, I was wondering if you could hack in to the Royal Bookball Stadium system and lock the door to the Charming Box. I'll pay you. No, I won't marry you, it'll just be money. Okay? Thanks."

* * *

 

Cerise watched the numbers slowly increase with each floor. Darling had been right, getting past the attendant had been easier than she had expected. He had taken one look at her pass and let her by, nachos and all.

She pulled out a chip and studied the elevator around her. It was fancier than any elevator she had ever been in. Hex, everything about Darling and her family was fancier than hers. Cerise had never even been to a real bookball game. To her, bookball was something that you watched on the carpet of the living room with your dad right beside you, with only some good old chips and queso(and maybe some beef jerky, too).

The Charmings were different. They had fancy foods, and fancy balls, and fancy dresses. Everything about the Charmings was fancy, and everything about the Hoods/Wolfs was not.

Cerise was thankful that only Darling would be at the bookball game. She wouldn't been able to get along with Dexter, but she didn't know if she would be able to even talk to Darling's parents..or Daring.

Cerise could barely stand to pass him in the hallway. Each time she saw him she wanted to talk to him. She wanted to crack jokes and laugh with him. She wanted to work on stupid class projects with him. She wanted to bicker with him, and bore him with endless banter. She wanted to tell him her secret-the one that she had been hiding for so long. She wanted to kiss him.

Cerise was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the elevator doors pinging open. She pulled another chip out of the box of nachos and started munching on it as she exited the fancy Charming elevator. She hadn't made it two steps before she head a voice.

"Hey, Darl, I was wondering if you wanted fondue or-" Cerise stopped as Daring Charming's stupidly handsome face come in to view. He froze. "Cerise," Cerise could hear his heart beat faster, just as she could feel hers.

The nachos fell out of her hands, splattering all over the floor.


	10. All Things

Cerise was going to kill Darling the moment she got the chance, for she knew this was her doing. No one else could concoct such a scheme. She glanced behind her at the elevator as she heard the door lock. There would be no escaping this one. Cerise didn't know whether or not Darling could see what was going on, but she did know that she wasn't getting out of here any time soon.

Cerise was going to murder Darling.

"Cerise."

Cerise turned around to find Daring Charming staring at her in shock. Obviously, this plan had been one hundred percent his sister's idea. And, it was one of Darling's worst ideas to date. Cerise knew that the girl meant well, but she didn't know what she was doing. It was a full moon, and, while Cerise had a better handle on the lunar cycle than her sister, it still was too dangerous. She could end up hurting someone, or worse. Cerise shook her head. She didn't want to think about what was worse.

"What are you doing here?" Daring Charming's perfect voice cut through her thoughts.

Cerise let out a brisk laugh. "Why don't you ask your sister," she said, walking past Daring and taking a seat overlooking the field. 

"M-my sister?" Daring Charming took the seat right next to her. Cerise eyed Daring, with his perfect face, and perfect hair, and perfect jawline that she had been trying to avoid. She never should've accepted the ticket.

"Yes, your sister," Cerise said, "After all, she did lock the elevator."

"She locked the elevator?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that?"

Cerise sighed. "I just do, okay?"

Daring glanced from her to the elevator. "Okay," he said after a moment. 

Cerise had to resist the urge to look at Daring, instead, focusing on the game that had just begun. The Wolves versus the Knights. Cerise snorted, how appropriate. She could feel Daring's eyes upon her as she watched the game. She had no doubt that there were a hundred different questions he wanted to ask. She resolved to answer none of them. 

After a while, Daring got up and walked away. Cerise heard him as he shuffled around, probably getting something to eat. A minute later, he returned and placed something on Cerise's lap. She looked down to find a carton of nachos sitting on her lap.

"You dropped yours all over the floor. I thought you might want some more," Daring said, not looking at her.

"Yeah," Cerise said, "Thanks."

She watched Daring as he watched the game. The fates must really hate her, Cerise decided. She had too many secrets in her life to ever really be in a relationship with the boy in front of her, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be civil. That didn't mean that they couldn't enjoy themselves.

"So," Cerise said, drawing Daring's attention away from the game, "Do you like the Knights?"

Daring shrugged. "Three of my cousins play for the team," he said, "but I've always been more of a Wolves fan."

"Really?"

"Yeah. What about you? Do you like the Knights?"

"My dad and I always cheered for the Wolves," Cerise said, "So, I'm a Wolves fan through and through."

"Huh," Daring said, "That doesn't surprise me."

Cerise looked at him. It didn't surprise him? She was a Hood, didn't he know that they were supposed to hate the Wolves? 

"What does surprise me, though," Daring said, "is that you said your dad was a Wolves fan. You've never talked about your dad before."

"Really?" Cerise asked nervously, "That's weird." She returned her attention to the game, focusing on the playing and the score, and definitely not the prince sitting right next to her.

"I wasn't even aware that you had a father."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Daring said, "I'd like to meet him."

"Youcantdothat," Cerise said a bit too quickly. She glanced at Daring, who was staring at her. There was something in his eyes that she didn't know how to interpret. "What I mean is, he's away on business." 

"When's he get back?"

"I don't know," Cerise said, "His job takes him away a lot for long periods of time. It's a strange job."

"Almost as strange as Little Red Riding Hood marrying the Big Bad Wolf."

Cerise choked. "What?"

"I was just thinking," Daring said, his eyes boring in to her, "of how strange it would be if the Big Bad Wolf married Little Red Riding Hood."

"Yes, that would be strange," Cerise agreed. 

Her eyes returned to the field. How much did he know? Was he just saying this because he thought it was strange, or because he knew something more? Oh, her father would kill her. 

"Do you know that your eyes turn golden in the moonlight?" Daring asked, and Cerise froze. There was no doubt now that he knew. He knew it all. "Or when you get focused or pissed off?"

"No," Cerise said, "I wasn't aware."

"Did you that the only people whose eyes can change to gold like yours are werewolves?" Daring asked her.

Cerise sighed and looked at Daring. There was no maliciousness in his expression. He looked..concerned? Cerise shook her head, she must have been misinterpreting it.

"How long have you known?" she asked.

"I've had my suspicions," Daring said, "but, honestly, the last ten minutes. Why didn't you tell me?"

Cerise stared at Daring. He wanted to know why she hadn't told him. She hadn't told him because it was a secret. It was a secret that she was so used to keeping that even her best friend forever after didn't know about it. The only person on the entire planet that knew about it outside of her family was Raven Queen, and that girl had so many secrets of her own that Cerise knew she would keep hers.

Daring...he was different. True, she'd felt for him in a way that she never had before, but she had thought that she was just a passing fancy to him. He was brave, and funny, and handsome, and there were plenty of other girls that would suit him much better than herself. Cerise had been sure that it would only be a matter of time before he saw that, and, when he did, it was better that he left just thinking her another damsel in love with him. 

"You're a Charming," Cerise muttered, "I wasn't sure that I could trust you?"

"And why was that?"

Cerise shrugged. "You-your Daring Charming. You have girls chasing after you at every turn. You're a prince that fights dragons, and is rich, and famous. Me-I'm..."

"Cerise Hood," Daring said with a small smile that made Cerise's insides melt, "You're the girl that saved the bookball team. You're the crazy Rebel that can run faster than anyone in school. You're the only person that posted a picture of me on bookpage when I was turned in to a frog. You hate parties, but go because you love you're friends. You're all kinds of strange, and that makes you perfect."

Cerise gaped at Daring. She didn't know what to say. "Is that-is that really how you see me?"

"That," Daring said with a grin, "isn't even half of it." 

Cerise grinned in return, and, without another thought, kissed Daring Charming. It was so much more than their first kiss. This kiss held hope, and trust, and a thousand arguments that they had yet to have. This kiss spoke of a future. A future with happiness, and acceptance. A future where Cerise didn't have to hide anymore. A future with Daring Charming, and that was the future that she wanted. Cerise surrendered herself into that kiss and everything it offered 


End file.
